[SPD WRITE PROTECTION = FALSE] and Asus Z690 Extreme hangs on boot.

S

sblantipodi

2[H]4U
Joined
Aug 29, 2010
Messages
3,765
Hi all.

I'm using a Z690 Extreme mobo with 4 sticks of 6200MHz SK Hinyx downclocked at 5.2GHz for stability reasons.
Using corsair iCue to drive the RGB on my RAM sticks.

I can stress test my PC with every possible software for days and there is no errors and no crash but if disable the SPD Write Protection in BIOS to let iCue control my RGB LEDs on the RAM sticks I have a problem.

With SPD Write Protection disabled, from time to time, RGB on my RAM sticks stops working, when they stops working the PC continue to work ok,
but if I reboot when the RGB are freezed, the PC hangs on boot in the initial stage of the POST process.

The OLED shows the "Detecting memory" msg and the two digit displays shows 00.



Have you ever seen something like this?
 
I have 2 ASUS motherboards and 2 MSI motherboards in my house all using Corsair I-Cue for RGB. I can say that I-Cue is an absolute nightmare, so I am not sure that the ASUS mb is the problem.
 
Writing to SPD is like flashing firmware -- iffy at best. Actually it's probably a lot more problematic. The fact that they use this for RGB is assinine, imho. Corrupt the SPD, and your motherboard can't make out what memory is in your board.

Now, they probably sidestepped this a bit by making part of the SPD revert to known defaults or some shady shit like that when power is removed, but that may not work on a hot/warm reboot where power is lost for only a short time or not at all.

Anyway, tl;dr, RGB sucks and RGB ram is worse. You can put up with it and power off occasionally, or swap it for something better.
 
Running four modules is a pain in the ass on the Z690 platform in general. iCUE is hot garbage and I won't use it on any of my personal machines. I've had nothing but trouble with it.
 
Nobu said:
Writing to SPD is like flashing firmware -- iffy at best. Actually it's probably a lot more problematic. The fact that they use this for RGB is assinine, imho. Corrupt the SPD, and your motherboard can't make out what memory is in your board.

Now, they probably sidestepped this a bit by making part of the SPD revert to known defaults or some shady shit like that when power is removed, but that may not work on a hot/warm reboot where power is lost for only a short time or not at all.

Anyway, tl;dr, RGB sucks and RGB ram is worse. You can put up with it and power off occasionally, or swap it for something better.
Click to expand...
Can you not turn it off?
 
Furious_Styles said:
Can you not turn it off?
Click to expand...
Some boards might allow enabling some sort of write protection, but that won't necessarily guarantee the SPD won't get corrupted, especially if the RGB is enabled by default and has it's own circuitry messing with the SPD ROM.
 
maybe try dropping it to what the board actually supports.
this is the only 4x16 set on the qvl and notice how its 4400....
1654540053336.png

edited speeling
 
Last edited:
pendragon1 said:
maybe try dropping it to what the borad actually supports.
this is the only 4x16 set on the qvl and notice how its 4400....
View attachment 480533
Click to expand...
All boards will have to run the RAM at around 4400MHz if you use four DIMMs. Remember, DDR5 is literally two channels per module. Running four modules is basically the same as running eight channels of DDR4. You aren't going to get it to clock super high.
 
Dan_D said:
All boards will have to run the RAM at around 4400MHz if you use four DIMMs. Remember, DDR5 is literally two channels per module. Running four modules is basically the same as running eight channels of DDR4. You aren't going to get it to clock super high.
Click to expand...
yeees... well hes running it at either 6200 or 5200, his post doesnt make sense.

Nobu said:
He said it works with SPD write disabled just fine. Enabling SPD write and controlling RGB with iCUE is what causes the buggy behavior.
Click to expand...
its also way out of spec. so he can try it closer to what the board supports or leave it write protected. op says the issue happens with it off: "but if disable the SPD Write Protection....I have a problem". i think... the post is a mess, guessin ESL...
 
pendragon1 said:
yeees... well hes running it at either 6200 or 5200, his post doesnt make sense.


its also way out of spec. so he can try it closer to what the board supports or leave it write protected. op says the issue happens with it off: "but if disable the SPD Write Protection....I have a problem". i think... the post is a mess, guessin ESL...
Click to expand...
Well when you spend 1k on a board and get 64gb of memory I'm guessing he hoped he could run it at top speed.
 
pendragon1 said:
yeees... well hes running it at either 6200 or 5200, his post doesnt make sense.


its also way out of spec. so he can try it closer to what the board supports or leave it write protected. op says the issue happens with it off: "but if disable the SPD Write Protection....I have a problem". i think... the post is a mess, guessin ESL...
Click to expand...
As I said, I'm using 6.2GHz sticks @ 5.2GHz for stability reasons.
I have tried downclocking even more down to 3.6GHz but the problem remains. The problem isn't related to instability since I can pass all the benchamarks and stress tests for days without problems if I enable the SPD Write protection on the motherboard (disable SPD Write).
 
nobody says 5.2ghz ram, its 5200 or 4400 or 6200 etc etc, hensee some confusion....


sblantipodi said:
Correct, perfect summary of the problem.
Click to expand...
Nobu said:
He said it works with SPD write disabled just fine. Enabling SPD write and controlling RGB with iCUE is what causes the buggy behavior.
Click to expand...
sblantipodi said:
but if disable the SPD Write Protection in BIOS to let iCue control my RGB LEDs on the RAM sticks I have a problem.
Click to expand...

your op says: "but if disable the SPD Write Protection in BIOS to let iCue control my RGB LEDs on the RAM sticks I have a problem."
so which is it? and can you not control with it on? is your bios up to date? have you tried with just two sticks? is your kit the one on the qvl?
 
pendragon1 said:
nobody says 5.2ghz ram, its 5200 or 4400 or 6200 etc etc, hensee some confusion....






your op says: "but if disable the SPD Write Protection in BIOS to let iCue control my RGB LEDs on the RAM sticks I have a problem."
so which is it? and can you not control with it on? is your bios up to date? have you tried with just two sticks? is your kit the one on the qvl?
Click to expand...

my OP is correct.
If I disable the SPD Write protection (this means enable SPD Write), iCue can write to SPD and control the RGB, and I have the problem.
If I enable the SPD Write protection (this means disable SPD Write), iCue can't write to SPD to control the RGB, and the problem disappear, but in this case, I have 1000€ of RAM, with dead RGB.

man I'm behind this problem since 6 months, I have tried everything, the kit is in QVL but QVL is meant for running at "advertised spec",
I have problems even at JEDEC specs so no need for QVL here.
 
sblantipodi said:
my OP is correct.
If I disable the SPD Write protection (this means enable SPD Write), iCue can write to SPD and control the RGB, and I have the problem.
If I enable the SPD Write protection (this means disable SPD Write), iCue can't write to SPD to control the RGB, and the problem disappear, but in this case, I have 1000€ of RAM, with dead RGB.

man I'm behind this problem since 6 months, I have tried everything, the kit is in QVL but QVL is meant for running at "advertised spec",
I have problems even at JEDEC specs so no need for QVL here.
Click to expand...
ok. that is clearer.
bios up to date? have you talked to asus at all? have you tried another control app like SignalRGB?
 
pendragon1 said:
ok. that is clearer.
bios up to date? have you talked to asus at all? have you tried another control app like SignalRGB?
Click to expand...
this is the thread where Asus says: "we will let you know if we find something".
it's obviously a kind method to say goodbye and please don't bother in the next weeks/months.

https://rog.asus.com/forum/showthre...tion-FALSE-and-my-Z690-Extreme-hangs-on-boot/

I have too many Corsair products, it is difficult to work width that devices without iCue.
 
pendragon1 said:
what i suggested replaces icue. maybe give it a try?! with and without this protection on.


ok
Click to expand...

If I close iCue, the PC doesn't hang since no one write the SPD. but as I said I have too much corsair peripherals that doesn't work well without iCue.
 
sblantipodi said:
If I close iCue, the PC doesn't hang since no one write the SPD. but as I said I have too much corsair peripherals that doesn't work well without iCue.
Click to expand...
signalrgb replaces icue. remove icue and try it. if it doesnt work put icue back on.
 
after seven months I started asking for a solution to the problem I can say that the Asus support is ridiculous,
they delete forum posts on their ROG site, they ban users that complaints on discord bout design flaws that aren't solved.

shame on asus.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top